ALY MORRISON'S "BUTTERFLY" ADVENTURES IN THE WORLD OF WARGAMES AND TOY SOLDIERS

Thursday 23 November 2017

From my side of the table... The Battle of Giniss.

No!...
Not a Bottle of Guinness...


 The Battle of Giniss in December 1885...


 Our friends from Germany...  Johannes, Oliver , Frank Becker and Frank Bauer came over for a weekend of Toy Soldiers, Food and Drink...


Michael Perry kindly put on a Sudan game for us all on the Saturday where we were also joined by Steve May.
Frank Becker , Alan and Oliver took the part of the Imperial Colonial Forces... While Johannes, Frank Bauer, Steve and I took the part of the Enthusiastic Giniss Defence League...


















After a hectic night of poetry, basket weaving and yoga , the Giniss Defence League sleep soundly in their beds...




But what's this?...






The sound of Imperial Colonial boots , hooves and camel ...feet! have been drowned out by our 'gentle' snores...




And sticking a flag in the ground doesn't mean it belongs to you... when we wake up you will see that we have lots more flags than you...




This is the last guy who tried it... Or maybe he was the noisy postman who woke us up to early...




They keep coming... Tramp Tramp, Clip Clop, and whatever sound camels feet make (Flip Flop?)




This believe it or not this is the paddle steamer 'Lotus'... and its on the Nile... Covering the advance of the Imperial Colonial Force.............. go on use your imagination... we had to...




This is where we put our cannon/alarm clock... The crew should be wide awake and watching for trouble.... but... they are asleep...




Suddenly Steve's cavalry are awake... Maybe it was a camel barking or a horse farting we will never know... but they are up and ready for action...




As were Johannes's Nile Arabs and riflemen... my men were also coming around but to be honest I was so surprised I forgot to take a picture...




Frank Becker was also surprised... so much so that he rolled a blunder...




But the rest of his men managed to keep coming...




They all kept coming...




The 'Lotus' even started shooting at our alarm clock... fortunately our imaginary gun on the other side of the imaginary Nile shot at the imaginary 'Lotus' and disabled it...





We were all wide awake by now and waving our flags ...




Franks men came on regardless...




Our enthusiastic cavalry prepare to engage the Imperial Colonial Force...




Oliver's cavalry move forward...




As does Alan's infantry...




But our Enthusiastic Giniss Defence League is ready to go...




Brace your self...




Oliver's cavalry decided to pull back






But left behind some men to occupy... a hut!





We decided we wanted it back... and we got some free camels into the bargain...









Steve's cavalry engaged the enemy cavalry... and were fairly successful.




The Enthusiastic Giniss Defence League surge forwards towards the enemy...
Well most of us.... it turns out that Frank Bauer rolls worse dice than I do...




He should have been here...




I charged Frank Becker's men...




Frank Bauer's men begin to edge forwards...






Johannes's and Steve's men surge forward and attack...







Bloody combat ensues along the whole front...




Frank Bauer's men... are here...




They should be here... maybe they didn't get the memo about carrying your enthusiasm to the battlefield...
Or maybe Frank rolled a blunder...




Although I manage to force back Frank Becker's Scots and Egyptians after a prolonged and bloody fight my force is also broken and looks like becoming the proverbial fish in a barrel...
If only Frank was here...




Sadly Frank is there...




Johannes charges his men into Alan's infantry... it is literally down to one throw of the dice...
If only Frank was here...




Sadly Frank is still there...



The dice gods are against us and all of our fighting men are broken... We decide to leave Giniss to the Imperial Colonial Forces and head off to the Khartoum Mindfulness Centre and have bit of a rest and some herbal tea.




With one last throw of the dice Frank manages to prove he is the king of unlucky dice and fails to move...
To be fair he has come out of the battle with his men in perfect order and not a scratch on them...
A victory... of sorts...


An excellent and surprisingly close game in the company of some great friends...


All the toys were Perry Miniatures from the collection of Michael Perry...


 https://www.perry-miniatures.com/index.php?cPath=23_35&osCsid=gh3kn3sibo6b0ied0ljf467407


The rules were Black Powder...


https://store.warlordgames.com/collections/black-powder




Alternative ( and possibly less reliable ) versions of this game can be found here...


https://en-gb.facebook.com/perryminiatures/posts/1360528550735914


https://tabletopdeutschland.com/2017/11/21/ginnis-by-michael-perry/




All the best  Aly









































































27 comments:

  1. Now that was incredibly enjoyable Aly. Thank you so much for posting on what was obviously an enormously fun wargame.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you Carlo...
      It was indeed a fun game... although I do feel sorry for Frank
      But he did make even my dice look good

      Delete
  2. A lovely game. Reminds me so much of photographs we used to see in the hobby press of colonial game put on at the old Wargames Holiday Centre when the late Peter Gilder had the reins.

    Best Regards,

    Stokes

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I remember those images...
      I used to wonder if I would ever play games with that many cool toys...and here I am doing it...:-)

      Delete
  3. As expected a wonderful looking and sounding game, but those dice throws put even mine to shame.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. If only Frank had been on the other side...
      But then of course my bad dice would have kicked in...

      Delete
  4. Great looking game Aly - I can fully sympathise with Franks inability to move, that's one of the aspects of Black Powder rules I really don't like!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Speaking for myself...it doesn’t matter what rules I play...

      Delete
  5. A very entertaining write as always. I can only imagine the amount of fun to be had during the game.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you Paul
      It was indeed a classic game...

      Delete
  6. Great fun write-up Alys - a great read.
    Sudan is one of those 'I must-do sometime' collections, that I'll 'most probably never do' collections (sadly).
    All the best, Simon.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you Simon...
      I am fortunate that Michael has already done the hard work for me...

      Delete
  7. Cracking stuff! Perhaps Frank's men decided fighting was not an option and were working out how to hit the Imperial force with a really vicious leaflet campaign.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Or possibly a silent protest wearing sad face emoji masks...

      Delete
  8. A great report, wonderful pictures, splendid armies...and the vulture's vignette is a fantastic addition!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. One of Michael’s home made jobs...I think there is a GW plastic horse skeleton under the birds...

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  9. Great company, great toys, poor dice rolls, wargames heaven and hell :~)

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  10. Excellent report, Aly. I hope the herbal tea has had its rejuvinating effect and the league is plotting revenge.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. We will try to engage in a meaningful dialogue and ask them to look at the world through other people’s eyes and consider the effect their behaviour has on society ...
      Then stab them....

      Delete
  11. Great report. The pics are like stills from Young Winston or Khartoum...atmospheric !

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    Replies
    1. Thank you Stuart...
      Playing on Michael’s large table really helps with the panoramic shots.

      Delete
  12. Hi Aly,

    What a sensational report and great photos. Thank you for that and for allowing me to kick your butt in the game ;-)

    Your blog is great and I will follow it with interest.

    Cheers and see you in Hamburg!
    Frank (Becker)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Frank.
      It was a rather close game... if only Frank (Bauer) had got better movement dice...
      Hopefully the dice hogs will be kinder next time...

      I am glad you’re enjoying the blog...

      All the best. Aly

      Delete
  13. Great report - only hope my Sudan project can look half as good as this...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Eric...
      What scale are you doing your project in?

      Delete
    2. Ha!...
      I just saw your blog...
      An excellent start... but will it be enough 😁

      Delete